Miami ? Chris Carpenter pitched 72â3 innings to become the first 19-game winner in the major leagues, and David Eckstein went 4-for-5 with three RBIs to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Florida Marlins 6-1 Monday night.

Carpenter (19-4) beat the Marlins for the second time in August and improved to 11-0 in his past 14 starts. He allowed seven hits but only one run, stranding four runners in scoring position.

Jeff Conine drove in Florida’s run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, ending a streak of 24 consecutive scoreless innings pitched by the Cardinals.

Albert Pujols went 0-for-5 for St. Louis, but Eckstein hit an RBI single in the third and tripled home two runs in the fourth. Teammate Larry Walker hit his 12th homer over the center-field wall leading off the third.

Florida missed a chance to tie Philadelphia for the NL wild-card lead, and A.J. Burnett (12-8) lost his second start in a row after winning seven consecutive starts. He gave up a season-high six walks, and four led to runs – including one to Carpenter, an .031 hitter.

Burnett threw 95 pitches in five innings and departed trailing 6-1.

St. Louis left the bases loaded in the first when John Mabry tapped out, but the Cardinals scored in the second. Yadier Molina led off with a walk, advanced on a sacrifice and came home on Eckstein’s two-out single.

Burnett struck out the first two batters in the fourth before walking Abraham Nunez and Carpenter. Eckstein pushed the next pitch into the right-field corner for a triple, then scored when Miguel Cabrera – who last week moved from left field to third base – failed to handle Walker’s grounder for an error.

Dodgers 9, Cubs 6

Chicago – Jeff Kent drove in four runs and D.J. Houlton got his first win in two months as Los Angeles used a six-run second inning to beat Chicago.

Houlton (5-7) won for the first time in nine starts since June 27, despite giving up four solo homers. He can thank the Dodgers’ offense for finally getting him some runs- they’d scored only four in his five previous starts and just eight in his seven losses.

Jeromy Burnitz homered twice for the Cubs and Nomar Garciaparra and Todd Walker each connected off Houlton, who surrendered seven hits and four runs in 52â3 innings.

Rockies 2, Giants 1

San Francisco – Matt Cain pitched five strong innings in his much-hyped major league debut, but Matt Holliday homered to help Colorado beat San Francisco.

Holliday connected off Cain for his 14th homer leading off the second, and Byung-Hyun Kim (4-10) earned his first road win in seven starts this season.

At 20 years, 332 days, Cain (0-1) became the youngest Giants pitcher to make his first big league start since Mark Grant on April 27, 1984, at Cincinnati (20 years, 185 days).

Diamondbacks 7, Padres 5

San Diego – Kelly Stinnett hit what appeared to be a bizarre inside-the-park homer, and Troy Glaus, Chad Tracy and Shawn Green also connected as Arizona trimmed San Diego’s NL West lead to 4 1â2 games.

Arizona has won three straight following a six-game losing streak and is tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for second place.

San Diego fell to 64-66. It’s the latest in a season that a team has led a division with a losing record.